1. Standardized pork production at the Celtic village of Levroux Les Arènes (France, 2nd c. BC): Evidence from kill-off patterns and birth seasonality inferred from enamel δ 18 O analysis
- Author
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Marie-Pierre Horard-Herbin, Olivier Buchsenschutz, Marie Balasse, Joël Ughetto-Monfrin, and Delphine Frémondeau
- Subjects
Archeology ,Celtic languages ,Enamel paint ,δ18O ,Ecology ,Context (language use) ,Seasonality ,medicine.disease ,Geography ,visual_art ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,medicine ,Assemblage (archaeology) ,Sequential sampling - Abstract
The pig predominates the zooarchaeological assemblage of the second Iron Age settlement of Levroux Les Arenes, in a context characterised by intensive craft and trade activities. The pattern of pig mortality profiles (targeting two-year-old animals), standardized butchery cut-marks and the under-occurrence of ham-bearing bones suggest that there was standardized pork production potentially designed for trade. This hypothesis was investigated through enamel δ 18 O analysis, allowing the seasonality of pig births to be determined and the reasons for a particular age class in the kill-off patterns to be explained. Results reveal that pig births were spread across more than half a year, suggesting that slaughter was not seasonally constrained, but was performed to target a specific age class and weight/size at death, thus supporting the hypothesis of standardized pork production in Levroux Les Arenes. For the first time, the stable isotope approach – sequential δ 18 O analysis in pig incisors developed on a modern reference set – has been performed on an archaeological assemblage, after methodological adaptation. The results constitute the first zooarchaeological evidence of such a standardization of meat production from the second century onwards in Gaul.
- Published
- 2015
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